Charles David Crumpton and Phone Pyae Soe report on an event by the Myanmar Advocacy Research Group that included a review of current evidence on the circumstances surrounding local governance and practical local experience, with participants reviewing the meaning and implications of this evidence.

In an article by The New York Times, Francesca Regalado writes about a recent museum exhibition in Thailand that criticized authoritarian governments in China, Myanmar and other countries. The curator, an artist from Myanmar, swiftly left the country from fear of being arrested and deported back to Myanmar. Chinese authorities wanted the museum to remove the names of artists from Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang, as matters in these areas were “purely China’s internal affairs.”

Ready to take your leadership journey to the next level?

Applications are now open for the 2026 Asia Foundation Development Fellows! Join a unique fellowship program for future leaders across Asia-Pacific who are driving change in their communities.

Here's what you'll gain:
✅ Study tours in Korea and the United States
✅ Executive coaching and mentoring
✅ Professional development award

Don't miss your chance to become a global changemaker!

🗓️ Applications close on November 10, 2025

Call for Applications: Youth Rising Creative Workshop for Academic Freedom 2025

The call for application for Youth Rising Creative Workshop 2025 - Southeast Asian Youth for Academic Freedom is now open.

Youth Rising is envisioned as a nexus of academic freedom and artistic freedom among young people — a creative workshop that brings together students, young scholars, and artists to explore how imagination and critical inquiry can confront repression and inspire collective action in academic spaces and in solidarity with academic communities and other stakeholders.

Through participatory dialogue, art-making, storytelling and content creation, the workshop seeks to reclaim campuses and classrooms as spaces of freedom, while amplifying youth voices in the broader struggle for rights, democracy, and social justice in Southeast Asia.

The camp program aims to support this ecosystem by empowering youth to participate in cross-cutting conversations and alliances for academic freedom — a form of engaged scholarship.

FULLY-FUNDED OPPORTUNITY

15 selected youth participants, aged 15-35 years old from across Southeast Asia

October 31 - November 1, 2025

Mahidol University, Salaya Campus, Thailand (about 25 km from central Bangkok)

Deadline of Application - September 26, 2025